MYTH AND CEREMONY IN FINANCIAL DECISION-MAKING UNDER STRESS - CASE-STUDIES FROM MEXICAN UNIVERSITIES

Based on case studies of a private and a public Mexican university, this research studied the economic strategies adopted by institutions of higher education to respond to financial stress. Rather than assuming that these strategies were selected primarily on the basis of their economic efficiency, the social processes that led to their adoption were explored. Economic development theory was employed to describe and conceptualize the universities' responses to financial difficulties. The concepts of institutional rules and rational myths in the environment and the processes that lead organizations to become similar to their environment were utilized to explore the role of the institutional environment on decision-making in times of fiscal uncertainty. Results indicate that financial stress was managed through economic measures, however the universities' institutional environment filtered and gave specific meaning to particular decision strategies. Institutional rules in the environment, acquiring the character of rationalized myths, permeated and determined decision-making choices, and were evidenced in and sustained by mimetic, normative and coercive processes. In this light, the institutional environment pervaded and predicted rational decisions.